Mario's Ristorante — Restaurant in Galveston

Update: I ended up going to the emergency room on 3/12/2024 for food poisoning. Thankfully both baby and I were okay.

Went here tonight for my birthday dinner. I used to love this restaurant as a child and wanted to come back to bring my family that had never been before. How ever, the atmosphere was very unwelcoming, we waited 30+ minutes for appetizers, and over an hour for entres. When we did get our entres, they were lukewarm at best, and my lobster ravioli was almost cold inside, and they topped it and stuffed it with crawfish - which wasn't really an issue, the issue was that it tasted like old fish and ammonia, like it had gone bad - my mother ordered the same dish and hers tasted the same, however due to the price ($20.95) and how management reacted towards my husband and I complaining, she ate her dish. I am 13 weeks pregnant, so decided to not eat it after a single bite of what tasted like bad fish, when my husband told management, they tried to argue that it was good and in fact was lobster- which wasn't my issue. I didn't mind the crawfish I did mind however that it tasted like it had went bad and no one understood/had sympathy. After making a complaint and sending my food back and denying ordering anything else (due to the long wait time- and it killing my appetite) the manager and the rest of the staff treated my family even more poorly, like we were some sort of outcasts for sending a dish back. The manager also informed us afterwards that they do not do refunds and I should complain to the Galveston county health department, so they can open an investigation and see how many other people got sick compared to how many orders they received. I got sick in the bathroom at CVS down the road while trying to get tums; my mother got sick as well in the car. My husband called to complain and inform them that they had gotten two people sick from the same dish (and was hoping for his money back seeing as we spent over $100) the manager had 0 sympathy and simply said that we should file a complaint and that it was essentially my fault as she offered to get me something else. I will NEVER be back and refuse to even offer this to my worst enemies. Avoid this restaurant at all costs, unless you want to get sick. Would rate 0 stars if Google...

Where do I begin... Walked in and reception was good, waiter was good and all was fine. Until we waiting almost a hour for 2 entrees to be delivered. Upon delivery the snapper my husband recieved was rotten with a foul taste. Not just that but it had no flavor and seemed like an amateur chef without a lick of common sense in spices made it. The chicken francesa the waiter recommended me was not much better. Plain noodles, a severely butchered soggy battered chicken in lemon...how yummy. Yet, we never complained and dealt with it because we aren't rude people. As a chef who trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Omaha, Nebraska and did state culinary competitions, this restaurant was a pure disgrace and we won't be coming back. I'll be filing with the Galveston Health Department because you will make someone sick serving rotten fish. Now what honored me to give a 1 star review was the 18% graditute you charged us. Yes, I more then anyone, understand the need and necessity of such a graditute of parties 8 or more due to high demand/attention needed. However we are a family with 6 very small children ages 9, 8, 6, 5, 3 & 1. Did we ask for constant refills? No, we ordered 1 drink each beginning of the meal and that's all we asked for. We where polite as we waited for the food to arrive. Did the waiter serve my children there pizza and hand them there plate? No, I as there mother did that. Did the waiter chop 3 childrens pizzas into small pieces to be edible? No, I as there mother did that. There was no pressure, no high demand and it was a regular table order like they would get for parties of 4. You don't charge a graditute when the whole party consist of just children. A graditute is needed when working with parties of teenagers and adults due to high demand/running. This waitress never ran and left us alone after we where served food. Due to having that $13 gradituted added made me tip the lowest I ever tipped before at just a meer $10. If there was no graditute that waiter would have gotten $30. Even if food wasnt good, I am still nice enough to tip. Next time pay attention to who you throw...

Yes the wife and I just drove into town and saw the sign for Mario's Ristorante we were in the mood for Italian so we stopped in. Our intention was to get takeout because there was a very important television show that we wanted to see in less than 30 minutes. We ordered from the menu through the hostess who was in charge of answering the phone and taking care of orders for takeout who as it turned out was the manager slash owner. Flanca was her name so I am told. When the food was ordered we explained earlier that we were rushed for time so the delivery man that was there saw our bag as we did and we picked it up while Flanca was on the phone and when she found out that we picked up the bag without her approval she began to get irate with us. There was no flatware in the bag and we ask for an extra small container of salad dressing and she explained that it would cost us because it was quote made on the premises and I said and we can't bend the rules possibly and she looked at me and said absolutely not it is a chargeable item. I found that quite rude. I told her shame on you and she got even more irate. I had to ask the delivery man who was standing there if he would get me some flatware she didn't even bother to check. The only reason why this restaurant got a one-star is because I couldn't enter a lower or 0 for a rating. My wife and I were blown away at her arrogance and then to find out later that she was the owner slash manager made me laugh even harder. I've never been treated with more disrespect and arrogance by any service industry employee let alone the owner of the establishment. Extremely disappointed in her professionalism and her ability to go an extra step for a customer which I will not be at that quote "Ristorante" ever again. Please keep your eyes open for arrogance at this establishment the food was good but the attitude was entirely uncalled for. 000 rating. Found out the owners name Giovanni ( I believe we were led astray when I asked later to speak to the owner). All this over a .75 cent extra salad dressing with a 30.00 dollar bill...